CARMICHAEL, Calif. — A 61-year-old local veteran left outside on the ground at Mercy San Juan Medical Center is speaking out after he was left lying on the ground for more than hour.
“Veteran or not, nobody should have been treated like that. Not at a hospital where you go in there for help and you are already in pain and hurting,” Sanders told ABC10 from his sick bed.
Sanders is a proud father and husband who fell in his backyard. He said that once he got to the emergency room the hospital tried to place him in a wheelchair, but he couldn't bend his upper torso and ended up on the ground waiting for a bed.
“There was no reason for it. If they were short on beds, instead of trying to slam me into a wheelchair, they could have put me on a backboard,” he said.
Sanders said he spent more than hour on the ground with his wife by his side.
“Just shock and horror, that’s all I can say about it. Just shock and horror," said Kelley Sanders. "It was heartbreaking to see him down there on the ground. That’s not something you ever want to see going up to the emergency room.”
In response to the incident, Dignity Health provided the following statement to ABC10 on Tuesday.
"The care and safety of our patients is always our top priority, and we take this matter very seriously. We are in the process of conducting a thorough investigation of the matter. The video depicts a brief snapshot of what was, in reality, several hours of the patient's encounter in our emergency room. Patient privacy laws prevent us from providing specific information about this patient's care, but we regret that this patient did not have a good experience," the hospital told ABC10.
But Kelley Sanders is not swayed by the message from the hospital.
“I think it’s a crock of crap,” she said. “Because what are they investigating?”
The family said the video speaks for itself and that they’d like an official apology and a list of actions the hospital plans to take to ensure no one else has this type of experience.
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